Booking a hotel room in advance can get you a great rate, but you could save even more by checking back at the hotel's available rates closer to your vacation. If there are cancellations or rooms open up late, they're often available at steep discounts, and rebooking will put that money back in your pocket.

Frequent travelers probably know this trick already, but Forbes explains it works just as well for summer getaways or convention-goers as well. Keep checking your preferred hotel as your arrival date gets closer—sometimes you may even have to call up the hotel and see if there have been any cancellations. If there have been, the rooms are usually available at a discount so the hotel can fill them up quickly—in many cases up to 30%. All you have to do is cancel your original reservation and rebook the new, cheaper room, and you're good to go.

There are some caveats though—first, be aware of the hotel's cancellation policy so you don't incur fees for cancelling that first reservation. Also, if you book through a third party discount service like Hotwire or Priceline, your room may not be refundable in the first place, so check the fine print. They suggest (as do we) you book well in advance and then check back for a better rate so your bases are covered. Alternatively, you could use a service like AirBnb to rent out someone's apartment or home instead of a hotel room—recent studies have shown it's a great way to save money too.